Legal Question in Civil Rights Law in Wisconsin

Who would I need to go to about the situation I have encountered?

My mother-in-law who obviously takes advantage of state help in many ways bought a Chihuahua 2yrs ago and to this day refuses to potty train the dog, allows the dog to go to the bathroom through-out her entire house, when I was cleaning one day I looked under her bed and found there was dog feces and urine all underneath, so horrible you literally could not see the carpet, and you find this all over her house, the dog has NEVER been outside, she is overweight and has MANY health problems which I feel is because of the way she chooses to live, I have witnessed first hand her lie to the state to have a health-care worker come in and do everything for her that she is capable of doing herself, we are seeing her kill herself because she is this way, her house is so filthy that I truly feel would be condemned if the state was to come in, we have done everything we possibly can for her, and can no longer watch her live this way and take advantage of people the way she is, she needs a serious wake up call for the way she lives or we are afraid she will slowly kill herself because of the severe filth she lives in.


Asked on 12/13/10, 11:56 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Jonathan Safran Samster, Konkel & Safran, S.C.

You might think about contacting your mother-in-law's physician, if you know who that is, to confidentially tell the doctor of your concerns about your mother-in-law an dher health. I guess you could try to have a family "intervention," to have your mother get appropriate help and be truthful about her living and health conditions. Ultimately, you could contact the State Dept. of Health Services or a County Ombudsman, if your County has such a contact, to notify them of the issues and problems and concerns, to see what other help might be available. Your mother-in-law may have some undiagnosed or untreated psychiatric issues that need to be dealt with if she is allowing her home and health to be affected this way. Ultimately, you will need to understand that she may need a care taker, and may even have to have either a power of attorney given to another or even a guardian appointed, if she is unable to care for herself and is not competent to make decisions for her own care.

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Answered on 12/20/10, 8:25 am


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